It surprises no one that the charming but wayward Vadinho dos Guimaraes–a gambler notorious for never winning—dies during Carnival. His long suffering widow Dona Flor devotes herself to her cooking school and her friends, who urge her to remarry. She is soon drawn to a kind pharmacist who is everything Vadinho was not, and is altogether happy to marry him. But after her wedding she finds herself dreaming about her first husband’s amorous attentions; and one evening Vadinho himself appears by her bed, as lusty as ever, to claim his marital rights.

“Bawdy, brilliant, human and humorous . . . full of unexpected delights--everything a modern novel should be."–The Denver Post

“A charismatic storyteller. . . . No other Latin American writer is more genuinely admired by his peers, nor has any other exerted so great a creative influence on the course of Latin American fiction."–The New York Times Book Review

"A sentimental masterpiece."–Los Angeles Times;

"Poetic, comical and very human."–Chicago Tribune

“One of the greatest writers . . . also one of the most entertaining.” –Mario Vargas Llosa